Phonics Question...

[djbartch]

My ds is just 5, but started sounding out CVC words using short A about a year ago. We just recently started OPGTR. I skipped the first part of the book (letter sounds) and started with CVC words using the short vowel. We've done practice with A, E, I, O. He's hung up on E, can never remember the sound it makes, but has done great with A, I, O. We have yet to tackle U, but he has read the letter before, so I'm not too concerned. Here's my problem / question. When I say he's done great, he is able to phonetically sound out the word, but he has to do so for each word, each time (there seems to be NO gaining in fluency). I'm curious as to how long we should spend working on a sound / phonic rule before going to the next one. Since he doesn't have short E sound yet, should I focus on this before going onto short U or consonant blends? Should he be able to read what we've covered well before continuing, or just let him sound out every word all the way through each time and continue to work through the book? He already knows the 'rule' for VCE, and read the word 'name' the other day, yet he'll get stuck on the word 'net'.

I do realize he's still young for reading - and I am not pushing him, I'm just not sure what to expect or how fast to do lessons. Do I spend a lot of time on one lesson until he has complete mastery or move a little quicker and introduce more rules and rely on review and the fact that he'll continue to use those sounds in reading stories even if that's not he lesson for the day.

I hope this made sense. I'm just at a loss on how to continue. :)

[sagira]

No advice here, but I want to know too as I'm going to be teaching my ds (5) reading this year as well, albeit without OPGTR or any formal program.

Good luck :)

[Alice]

Posting with trepidation as I'm in a similar place and not someone who has much experience....:)

The best advice I've gotten here over and over again about reading is to relax. I was pushing my son too hard...he could do it but didn't like it and it ended up being a struggle. So the best thing I did was to finally listen to all the wiser women here and back off this summer. We read a lot of books together but I didn't do any lessons. That was great for us and I saw a tremendous amount of increased interest in his part on reading. So we've started again slowly.

That said, it doesn't sound like your son is disliking reading or that you are pushing him. I just wanted to mention that for me that was the case.

I've noticed the same thing with my son...he can sound out words fine and he gets blending but the fluency isn't really coming. He can look at c-a-t and come up with cat but only after sounding out each letter each time. I think it is just a developmental issue...his brain isn't there yet. In talking to others who have taught kids to read they say the same thing, that there is just a point where fluency gets "switched on" and it's hard or impossible to force that to happen.

What I've chosen to do is to keep introducing new rules/sounds as long as he's happy with it and it's fun. We are doing a lot more reading of early readers together so he can get more and more practice.

I also came up with a fluency game that he loves. I wrote many CVC words on index cards. Then he sees how many he can read in a minute. I know he knows the sounds and these words aren't tough for him so I think it's ok to focus more on the speed of reading it. We have a mini-competition to see if he can beat his own record. For each word read he gets an M&M (we don't play this every day. :)). He is really liking this game...something about it appeals to his natural competitive nature.

ETA: My ds also had a really hard time with E. I chose to move on and just give him extra practice with E words, and to know that when we come with a word with an E in it I often need to gently remind him of the sound. Same thing with B and D. He still struggles with those although I see it getting less and less. I think as long as OVERALL he is getting it it's reasonable to expect that there will be some sounds or rules that he has trouble with. Jessie Wise in OPGTR recommends doing "one new and two review" so the idea is that even if you are introducing new topics you expect that you will be reviewing old ones. I think you just have to try and gauge by your son if you are going too fast or too slow....and that's something that is hard to do at first. I'm slowly learning how to keep it just the right amount of challenging.

[Melenie]

I think you could probably do it either way. We started learning to read without a program, but have decided to do OPGTR now to learn the blends and long vowel sounds and so on.

If I were you I would move on to the U and do E practice without the book. Spend a week doing E practice. This is how we started. We would pick a vowel for the week and spend as much time outside with sidewalk chalk. Write words with the short E sound in it and let him jump from letter to letter as he sounds them out.

I think if you did it everyday or when possible and think of some more games to play with the E it may drive it home.

Good luck.

[KrissiK]

We are doing the A Beka phonics program with my 4 and 5 year olds. They have trouble with the short e sound, which is typical says my mother who was a kindergarten teacher for 20 years. Reading is such a developmental task that I just don't push it with the boys. We do our phonics every day, review the letters and sounds, etc. but I try to make it a no pressure situation. They'll get it when they're ready!

[dcjlkplus3]

I would say that if he recognize the sound (even if he has to sound it out everytime), continue on. One thing about OPGTR is you have a 2 review and 1 new that you do before most lessons. As your 2 review, go back to the sounds he has trouble with. That way nothing gets left behind and he is still advancing. I wouldn't expect fluency at all until you've been doing it consistently for at least a year. Fluency will come with practice and no other way.
Good Luck!

[djbartch]

This game sounds great! :)

I had completely forgotten about the 2 review 1 new thing. I think I'm going to have to go back and look at the book again. :) I think we'll work on short E for a few more days and then move on. :)

Thanks a bunch!


I also came up with a fluency game that he loves. I wrote many CVC words on index cards. Then he sees how many he can read in a minute. I know he knows the sounds and these words aren't tough for him so I think it's ok to focus more on the speed of reading it. We have a mini-competition to see if he can beat his own record. For each word read he gets an M&M (we don't play this every day. :)). He is really liking this game...something about it appeals to his natural competitive nature.

[Reya]

There are lots of programs that can build his speed and confidence with this! Try Word Mastery from donpotter.net. Remedial Reading would also help a TON.

[Lovedtodeath]

Do I spend a lot of time on one lesson until he has complete mastery or move a little quicker and introduce more rules and rely on review and the fact that he'll continue to use those sounds in reading stories even if that's not he lesson for the day.


Keep going! Get all the rules in that smart little head and then when proficiency clicks he will be able to really read something worth reading! DD started struggling with sounding out (just because she didn't like it) and we kept going. She was at the end of second grade level when she turned 5.

For the "e" sound, tell him to ask you what sound E makes. Then cup your hand to your ear like you did not hear him and say it, "e"? He'll ask you again, you keep it up until he realizes what you are doing. He won't forget after that.:tongue_smilie:

[myfatherslily]

Try Word Mastery from donpotter.net.

Thank you for posting this link! I love it!!!:D

[Reya]

BTW, the 4-y-o I'm teaching also struggles most with short e. :-) Several of the phonics programs I've seen teach short e even after long "ee" for that reason!

[Sahamamama]

Rather than do 2R, 1N in each lesson, I tend to "loop" the lessons in chunks. Here's what I mean.

NEW - Go through lessons on consonant and vowel sounds.
NEW - Go through lessons on CVC words.
2 REVIEW - Go BACK to review consonant/vowel sounds AND CVC words
NEW - Move onto ending consonant blends, a few at a time.
2 REVIEW - Go BACK to review CVC words AND ending blends learned to that point.
NEW - Learn more ending blends.
2 REVIEW - Go BACK to review the first batch of ending blends AND review the ones you just learned.

We are up to Lesson 53. To me, the "new" aspect is really just introducing the concept to the student, while the "review" is practice that reminds, reteaches, and reinforces what was previously taught. It's common in the beginning for students to not "hear" the short "e" sound, most often hearing it as a short "a" sound.

To help him hear and see the difference, you could make up a "worksheet" as follows:
bad Ted sad had
tag bag sag beg
him Kim hem Jim
ran men man can
hen Dan tan van

You get the idea. One word is "e" and the other words are "a" or "i" and rhyme. Ask your son to read the words across each row and to circle the word that does not rhyme. Talk about the vowel sounds. Show him how three words have "a" in the middle, while the word that is different has "e" in the middle. You can also do this with beginning sounds (3 alike, 1 different) and ending sounds to help your son hear the "parts" or phonemes of a word. HTH.

[Lovedtodeath]

I had a really hard time with the short e sound too. Sahamamama had a good idea. Leap Frog letter factory makes the vowel sounds very differently. A is AAAAAAAAAH! while running from a monster. I is "i" "i" "icky" when being slimed. E is eh? as in eh? I couldn't hear you. I don't think it could be mixed up after this.

[ElisabethGrace]

Try Word Mastery from donpotter.net.


Reya, thank you SO much for posting this! His website has a wealth of information!:thumbup:

I found all sorts of wonderful things to download.

[angela in ohio]

I would step away from OPGTR for a little while and play games with the short vowel sounds. You should be able to find lots of ideas online. One we did was to make a little face with the mouth a different vowel. We put them on large craft (popsicle) sticks. I would set the five of them in front of dd. I would call out CVC words and she would grab the one with the correct vowel and hold it over her head and say the vowel sound. It sounds very simple, but she adored it, and we would play it for HOURS (I still have nightmares.)

The fluency you are talking about is a physical developmental step, much liek learning to blend, and it will come at its own time. One of my dc jumped righ to it, and the other two took a lot of practice reading before they made the leap. Th ebest thing you can do is to just keep putting it "out there" every single day and be at peace about being in a holding pattern as long as necessary.